CV STRUCTURE

Start with your personal details. Full name and contact details including all contact telephone numbers. Avoid superfluous details such as religious affiliation, children’s names etc. Include language skills, professional memberships and other relevant information.

Education

Educational history and professional qualifications should follow, including names of institutions and dates attended. List these in reverse order, beginning with your tertiary qualifications, as they are more relevant for a potential employer. List secondary school results (these details will matter more if you have recently entered the job market, than if for example you left full-time education 20 years ago). Include computer skills and any other recent training / development that is relevant to the role you are applying for.

Time spent abroad or work placements attended as part of your degree or diploma should be mentioned.

Career Details / Core strengths and skills

Briefly specify what you are looking for in your next position: Required Position, Position Type (contract or permanent), Last / Current Salary, Availability and Career Objectives. Include a list of your core strengths and skills.

Work Experience

The most widely accepted style of employment record is the chronological CV. Career history is presented in reverse date order starting with your most recent position. Achievements and responsibilities are listed against each role. More emphasis / information should be put on more recent jobs.

A functional CV can sometimes be more appropriate, for example if you have held a number of unrelated jobs. This presentation emphasises key skills that can be grouped together under suitable headings. However, career progression and the nature of jobs held can be unclear with this type of CV.

Identify the contribution you made – Rather than just stating a list of duties you had, think about ways of demonstrating success in a particular role. Mention your achievements at work and any concrete results you achieved (in measurable terms if possible). For example, rather than writing, “designed company’s web site,” you could say, “designed company’s web site, which increased company’s overall product sales by 50 percent.”

References

Reference must be listed and should only include contactable references that you reported to. Your referees should therefore be the most recent ones available. “Character References” are not useful and should be avoided.

Tags

Originally established in 1980, The Tower Group remains a leading and trusted brand for providing professional services that exceed expectations. Tower and its highly-qualified staff deliver proven value to our clients as well as career-boosting prospects to skilled and experienced candidates. As a leading South African brand in the staffing services industry, we have been trusted for 37 years by companies large and small to optimise their people resources and to provide suitably skilled and experienced a-typical staff to allow them to meet their company goals. Contact us today to see how the innovative Tower services can transform your organisation.

READ: In the working world, it is not only about what you can do, but how you can do it. Employers are looking closer at soft skills in candidates to help them select the perfect employee from a group of qualified candidates. Soft skills are what makes you stand out. Read here to find out what you should begin practising.

In a modern job market, it is not just what you can do but how you can do it. Soft skills are an increasingly important factor when looking for employment, as they can set you apart from other qualified candidates. Take a look at the top 5 soft skills recruiters look for in a candidate, right here.....